Democrats: Husted must enforce election spending rule

COLUMBUS Secretary of State Jon Husted should enforce a controversial rule that limits election spending by companies, nonprofits and unions, Democrats said Thursday.

The regulation requires companies, unions and nonprofits to disclose when they pay for election ads. It also prohibits companies from spending money to influence elections for a year after they receive state or federal money, such as through a contract or a grant to promote job creation. Ohio House Republicans drew attention to the rule last week by passing legislation that would void it, saying limiting corporate election spending was a violation of free speech.

But a spokesman for Husted, a Republican, said he couldn't enforce the regulation anyway, since its provisions, and consequences for not following them, aren't found anywhere in law.

That doesn't matter, Democrats told reporters Thursday.

"It's still an administrative rule that he's required to follow. The idea that constitutional officeholders are saying that they don't have to follow rules is certainly something the public should be made aware of," said state Rep. John Patrick Carney, D-Columbus. "There needs to be accountability."

Forcing Husted to enforce the rule would require a court challenge, which Democrats indicated they are not currently pursuing.

A spokesman for Husted reiterated the secretary of state's position: He will support companies' voluntarily disclosing their spending. In fact, Husted sponsored a bill when he was in the Ohio Senate that would have required companies and unions to report independent election spending. (The bill passed the Senate unanimously and was co-sponsored by Sen. Nina Turner, D-Cleveland, who is challenging Husted's re-election bid.)

But Husted can't force companies to follow the regulation in question without consequences laid out in law, spokesman Matt McClellan said Thursday.

"The secretary does enforce the laws that pass the General Assembly. There's just no basis in law for the rule. And typically when you put an administrative rule in place, there's basis in law for the rule," McClellan said.

Former Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner put the rule in place after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted restrictions on independent spending by corporations and labor unions. The regulation didn't take effect until just after Husted came into office in 2011.

In order for a rule to pass the Joint Committee On Agency Rule Review, attorneys must determine whether the law gives an agency authority to issue the rule. So attorneys must have determined this regulation was allowed by statute, JCARR Executive Director Larry Wolpert said.

Husted's office has the authority to rescind any rules, including this one. Doing so takes at least 75 days, during which JCARR could vote against rescinding the regulation. But such a vote by JCARR is rare.

Democrats say they're drafting a bill that would put the provisions from the rule into law. It's important to limit election spending by companies with state contracts, they say, in part because everyday voters typically can't spend as much as corporations on elections.

"The fact that we've gotten to a time in American history where the amount of money you have determines whether or not you have the freedom to speak and have political speech is disturbing," Carney said. "At the end of the day, the voters should have the ability to have equality in freedom of speech."

The legislation would have essentially no chance of moving in the Republican-dominated Ohio House.